CONNEAUT, Ohio — Two Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers have freed both an American freighter stuck for five days on southern Lake Erie and the U.S. ice-breaker trying to reach it through ice up to three metres thick.

The SS Arthur M. Anderson — the last ship in radio contact with the SS Edmund Fitzgerald before it sank in 1975 — had been trapped in the ice near Conneaut Harbor, about 75 kilometres northeast of Cleveland, since Tuesday.

The ship had fallen victim to plunging temperatures in February that left more than 90 per cent of Lake Erie covered in ice.

The two Canadian Coast Guard ships, the Griffon and the Samuel Risley, created a track through the ice north of the Anderson in order to free it Saturday.

Canadian Coast GuardA crew member aboard the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Griffon keeps a close watch on the Arthur M. Anderson as the icebreaker assists the freighter out of heavy ice conditions on southern Lake Erie on Saturday, February 21, 2015 in this handout photo.

The U.S. Coast Guard said the cutter Bristol Bay, a 140-foot ice-breaking tug, had been battling eight to ten feet of ice trying to reach the Anderson from its base in Detroit.

“After working tirelessly for several days and making slow progress, the crew of the Bristol Bay was running low on food for its crew, so a [U.S.] coast guard air crew from Air Station Detroit delivered 100 pounds of food via their rescue basket Thursday night,” it said in a release.

The U.S. Coast Guard summoned the 234-foot Griffon for help from its station in Prescott, Ont.

The Griffon joined with the Bristol Bay and they cleared a path into Cleveland, where the Bristol Bay was refuelled and resupplied with food.

A U.S. Coast Guard report said the Anderson was the last ship in radio contact with the Edmund Fitzgerald before it sank in a Lake Superior storm on Nov. 10, 1975, killing all 29 onboard. The Anderson was also the first rescue ship on the scene in a vain search for Fitzgerald survivors.

A spokeswoman for the Canadian Coast Guard, Carol Launderville, said that the Griffon has moved on to help escort an oil tanker in Nanticoke, Ont. and the Samuel Risley is now escorting the Anderson to the Detroit area, which could take a day or more depending on the ice conditions.

Launderville said none of the ships were in danger.

“The U.S. and Canada have a strong ice-breaking partnership,” said Rear Adm. Fred Midgette, commander Coast Guard 9th District. “Both countries co-ordinate closely to respond to these extreme ice conditions across the Great Lakes.”

Things will get even busier in mid-March, when the shipping season begins for the lakes’ regular traffic of vessels carrying iron ore, coal, grain and other bulk cargo.

Great Lakes Environmental Research LaboratorySatellite imagery of Lake Erie Monday shows it almost completely covered in ice after a bitter February.

“We’re probably going to be looking at situations like we had last year, where we had to put together convoys — lots of vessels together to make it through,” U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Lorne Thomas said.

Nearly 81 per cent of the Great Lakes are covered with ice, the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory reported Friday.

That was down slightly from more than 85 per cent the previous day — a glitch that probably happened because strong winds broke apart some ice and created open spots detected by satellites, said George Leshkevich, a physical scientist with the lab in Ann Arbor.

But with forecasts calling for frigid weather at least through the end of the month, the ice cover may keep expanding, he said. It’s grown rapidly as temperatures have plunged this month, nearly doubling over the past couple of weeks.

Patrick Record / The Ann Arbor NewAn ice fisherman makes his way back to his car after fishing on Independence Lake in Whitmore Lake, Mich., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015.

Records show the lakes’ most widespread freeze was 94.7 per cent in 1979. The ice cover topped out at 92.2 per cent last March.

Significant portions of the lakes typically froze over decades ago, Leshkevich said, but the frequency of severe winters has declined since the late 1990s.

“Two almost record-setting years back to back would be very unusual,” he said.

One likely explanation for the rapid buildup this month is that 2014’s freeze lasted so long — Lake Superior wasn’t completely ice-free until June — and summer was so mild that the lakes didn’t absorb much heat, he said. “So we started this season with below-water temperatures to begin with.”

The ice blanket reaches across more than 90 per cent of Lakes Superior, Huron and Erie, while Lakes Michigan and Ontario are more than halfway covered.

Two fanciful expeditions to cross the Northwest Passage — one on jet skis, the other in a rowboat — have been turned back after crews found that their path through the Canadian Arctic was blocked by ice.

HandoutThe Northwest Passage through Canada's Arctic islands.

A group of Americans filming a reality TV show radioed for assistance from the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Sir Wilfrid Laurier after getting pinned by Arctic conditions on Sept. 3.

“The group had encountered ice, high winds, cool temperatures and felt they were not safe and were at risk if they did not request rescue/evacuation assistance. No injuries reported,” said Rachelle Smith, regional manager of communications for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, told the Iqaluit-based Nunatsiaq News.

The seven men, filming a show called Dangerous Waters, are circumnavigating the globe on personal watercraft. This season, the goal was to cross the Northwest Passage, round the southern tip of Greenland and finish off by pulling into London, England.

Instead, they were bogged down by plummeting temperatures, a polar bear ripping apart one of their tents and the ocean freezing underneath them.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3UEWFShmdc&w=640&h=390]

“We wake up in the morning and we’re locked in the ice. The ice has moved in, it’s completely around all the jet skis and the boat,” expedition leader Steve Moll said last week.

The men were rescued in the Franklin Strait, a body of water named for British explorer Sir John Franklin, whose entire 1845 expedition was lost while trying to navigate the area.

Wikimedia CommonsSir John Franklin, English sea captain and Arctic explorer.

The cost of their rescue easily approached six figures, but the crew have as yet made no overtures to repay the sum, although they did vow to return.

Six days previously, the Last First expedition, a group of four Vancouver men trying to cross the Arctic in a rowboat, were forced to cancel their trip 1,128 km short of their goal after similarly encountering rough weather and passages choked with ice.

Ironically, one of the main goals of the expedition had been to demonstrate how ice-free the arctic had become.

“Some critics have suggested that our truncated journey speaks to the contrary but nothing could be further from the truth,” wrote expedition member Kevin Vallely in a Sept. 7 article for the Vancouver Sun.

“Our slow progress due to high winds and erratic weather demonstrates the difficulties of rowing in an Arctic environment, not the existence or non-existence of climate change.”

Three people are dead after a Canadian Coast Guard helicopter crashed in Arctic waters during a routine patrol to check ice conditions.

The helicopter had been stationed on the icebreaker Amundsen, which was sailing through M’Clure Strait in the western Arctic as part of a regular program of scientific study.

Those killed have been identified as Marc Thibault, commanding officer of the ship, helicopter pilot Daniel Dube and Klaus Hochheim, a veteran University of Manitoba Arctic scientist.

“We are deeply affected by this tragedy,” said Mario Pelletier, the coast guard’s assistant commissioner. “Our deepest condolences go to the families of our colleagues, who we like to think of as our friends.”

Pelletier said the Amundsen went through a crew change in Resolute, Nunavut, late last week.

“It’s a brand new crew,” said Pelletier.

“It was decided that an ice recognition patrol was needed in order to familiarize the commanding officer with the conditions surrounding the ship.

“We lost contact with the helicopter. The ship made its way to the last known position and found three persons in the water.”

Laureen & I would like to extend our deepest condolences to the families affected by the tragic helicopter crash in Resolute Bay last night.

Pelletier said weather conditions at the time of the crash Monday were good. The accident occurred during daylight.

All three who died were wearing safety equipment at the time, Pelletier said. He wasn’t able to say how far the helicopter was from the ship at the time of the crash or speculate as to what happened.

The Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

The helicopter was a Messerschmitt 105, capable of carrying a pilot and four passengers. Its maximum range is about 400 kilometres when fully loaded.

The Amundsen is a dual-purpose vessel, assigned to ice-breaking in the winter and to supporting scientific research in the summer.

The ship was steaming back Tuesday to Resolute, where Canada maintains a logistics centre for scientific research.

“We’re going to have some support offered there,” said Pelletier. “Our priority right now is to make sure they receive the proper support.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in a statement of condolence, said the crash underscores the risk assumed by those who work in the Arctic.

“It is a grim reminder of the very real dangers faced on a regular basis by those brave individuals who conduct research and patrol our Arctic _ one of the harshest and most challenging climates in the world _ to better understand and protect Canada’s North,” he said.

“The courage and dedication of these three brave individuals will be honoured and remembered.”

Tim Papakyriakou, of the Centre for Earth Observation Science where Hochheim had worked for 12 years, said the department was “devastated.”

Hochheim leaves a wife and three children.

“I’ve known him for years,” Papakyriakou said. “(He was) a very pleasant, helpful individual _ someone where, if you needed something, you would just ask and he would be there … just a pillar of support in all respects.”

Hochheim wasn’t deterred by the extreme northern climate or the rigours of working in the Arctic, he said. His research on sea ice was crucial to understanding climate change in the North, he added.

“The Arctic has been changing more than any other region on the planet, and really the only reason we know the extent to which it’s been changing is using remote sensing,” Papakyriakou said. “That was right up Klaus’s alley. His work was front and centre in that particular arena.

“He’s going to be sorely missed.”

Martin Fortier, executive director of the research consortium ArcticNet which manages the Amundsen’s scientific program, worked with all three victims many times. Everyone is in shock, he said.

“Those three people were just great people,” Fortier said, his voice cracking. “(My) favourite captain, favourite pilot and Klaus was a great person too.”

Although working in the Arctic is dangerous, Fortier said such tragedies are rare.

“It is the Arctic. It’s a risky environment, but the priority is safety,” he said.

The ship carrying the bodies of the three victims will be met by Mounties in Resolute and support workers are being sent to meet those left on board, he said. They are considering cancelling the mission but no decisions have been made, Fortier said.

In 2012, a First Air 737 airplane crashed at the Resolute airport, killing 12 passengers and crew, including well-known Arctic science advocate Martin Bergmann. The Transportation Safety Board is still investigating that disaster.

— By Bob Weber and John Cotter in Edmonton and Chinta Puxley in Winnipeg

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is touting the Canadian Rangers as a pillar of search and rescue in the North — even as a newly released defence report warns of “glaring weaknesses” in Canada’s ability to respond to Arctic emergencies.

The comprehensive Defence Science Advisory Board report describes rescue missions in the Far North as “significant and complex,” noting Ottawa wants to cobble together a series of new international partnerships to address the challenge.

The wide-ranging study points out that while the Canadian Coast Guard and the RCMP have significant roles to play in an Arctic crisis, they are sometimes not on the same page as National Defence.

“A lack of integration could hinder an effective response to a crisis or emergency,” said the review.

A lack of integration could hinder an effective response to a crisis or emergency

The 72-page analysis, written in April 2012, cites 27 search-and-rescue incidents in the North since 2009 that it says exposed “glaring weaknesses” — including the limited number of military and civilian aircraft available to respond to emergencies over the vast open territories.

The former military commander in the country’s Far North warned researchers, for instance, that the air force’s C-138 Twin Otters were in urgent need of replacement.

The government’s long-promised fixed-wing search-and-rescue program remains mired in bureaucratic and industry consultation.

There report also concludes Canada doesn’t have enough ships able to respond to maritime disasters, including oil spills, that major communication “voids” exist above the Northwest Passage, and that the Rangers who are able to respond in an emergency have no air-mobile or sea-lift capabilities.

The report, which looked at where defence fits into the government’s northern strategy, specifically recommended the Rangers get the training and equipment to mount more than just land-based rescues.

Last spring, the auditor general warned that the county’s search-and-rescue system was near the “breaking point” — a blistering report that prompted former defence minister Peter MacKay to institute a series of regular reviews.

“We are examining that very issue,” Harper said Tuesday in the middle of his week-long tour of the North.

“As you know, we have recently completed significantly expanding the Canadian Ranger program, which is a vital part of the search-and-rescue network that we have, particularly in the more remote parts of the Territories.”

Harper was to join the reservists in a camping expedition in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut.

The Rangers, numbering just under 5,000, are reservists — part-time soldiers — recruited from aboriginal communities and sprinkled across the vast reaches of the North in five distinct geographic locations.

They patrol on foot and snowmobile, and are considered the military’s biggest success stories in the region.

A spokeswoman for newly appointed Defence Minister Rob Nicholson says exercising sovereignty is a “cornerstone of our agenda,” noting the government recently delivered on an Arctic warfare training centre.

A big preoccupation for the military is beefing up its surveillance ability in the region and there are plans on the books to eventually link more satellites with drones and other sensors.

But it is a slow, painful process, the report said.

“In the short term, situational awareness in the North may not develop quickly enough to support defence planning or enhance responsiveness to a growing number of emerging situations resulting from increased activity in the North.”

To address that, National Defence and the Pentagon are in the process of formalizing and implementing a working plan for enhanced co-operation in the Arctic, including multilateral exercises to overcome “capability gaps.”

Canada and Britain have also tried to get Iceland into a joint search-and-rescue agreement; Canada has also been talking with Russia about a joint rescue program.

The eight nations, which are part of the Arctic Nations Council, signed their own deal in 2011.

The federal government will decide in the fall whether resupplying Canada’s navy or Arctic sovereignty is more important.

The Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard each has major shipbuilding projects scheduled to be ready for construction at the same time around 2015.

But the Vancouver shipyard slated to build them can only handle one project at a time, meaning work on either the Navy’s new resupply ships or the Coast Guard’s new polar icebreaker will have to be delayed.

Senior officials briefing reporters on background on the government’s $35-billion national shipbuilding strategy Friday confirmed the conflict and said a decision is coming.

“It is clear that the decision will require that the production and delivery schedule for one of the projects be adjusted to accommodate the construction of the other,” said one Public Works official who could not be identified. “The final decision as to which project goes first will be made in the fall of 2013.”

There are major ramifications associated with putting off either project.

The navy’s 50-year-old resupply ships are environmentally unsound and prohibitively expensive to maintain, while the coast guard’s existing heavy icebreaker is also near the end of its life.

In addition, a delay to either project will have financial repercussions because of inflation and other increased costs, which means the government will have to either put in more money or accept fewer or less capable ships.

National Defence, the coast guard and the Public Works department will spend the summer assessing the potential impacts of delaying either project so an informed decision can be made.

“The decision will be based on a comprehensive assessment that will consider operational impacts such as the need to include ship-life extension and refit costs for existing vessels,” the Public Works official said. “The assessment will also include the readiness of each ship design, schedule optimization and risks.”

One coast guard official, who also could not be identified, said a study is already looking into what work will need to be done to keep the 44-year-old Louis S. St-Laurent heavy icebreaker in the water past its 2017 retirement date.

“That’ll involve some investment in that vessel if we are to keep her in service should we not be the first of the large shipbuilds,” he said.

The answer is both of them should go first, but you can’t do that

University of Calgary defence expert Rob Huebert said the Louis S. St-Laurent is nearing the end of its life and desperately needed, but so are new resupply ships, especially as Canada looks to increase its military presence in the Pacific Ocean.

“So there isn’t an obvious clear answer as to which should go first,” he said. “The answer is both of them should go first, but you can’t do that. So there’s going to be some real hard decisions.”

The government officials maintained, however, that both the navy and coast guard are not contemplating stabbing each other in the back to make sure their ships are chosen first.

“It’s important to understand that we’re working on this together,” said one naval officer. “It is the government’s fleet. … We’re just at the beginning of the detailed work on that, and we are working together to produce it and to come up with the best options, the best solution for Canada.”

Meanwhile, the officials maintained confidence the shipyards in Vancouver and Halifax responsible for overseeing the majority of work associated with the $35-billion shipbuilding plan will be able to scale up and begin cutting steel soon.

Physical work on the first offshore fisheries and science vessels is scheduled to begin in Vancouver in 2014 and 2015, respectively, while the navy’s new Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessels are to start coming together in Halifax in 2015.

A schedule for work on the first replacements for the navy’s existing destroyers and frigates, which will also be built in Halifax, hasn’t been decided yet.

The government also announced $488-million for about two-dozen smaller coast guard lifeboats and science vessels earlier this week, contracts for which will be bid on by shipyards that aren’t part of the larger shipbuilding work.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/whats-more-important-to-ottawa-resupplying-canadas-navy-or-arctic-sovereignty/feed/0stdA Maritime Coaster Defence Vessel while participating in Exercise Trident Fury in 2007. The navy just announced it plans to design new resupply ships.